DHL Saudi Complaints & Reviews - Lost shipment

DHL Saudi

Lost shipment

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Dear DHL sSudi Arabia

I am Dr. Rasha Egyptian living in KSA. I am sending you this mail regarding my shipment (2488341984) that i have sent from Saudi Arabia by KSA special post to The Royal College in London UK on the 21 of March 2010 and till that very day it didn't reach its destination, not even been sent back. That shipment contained an application for sitting the exam of the 1 st FRCR, a copy of my passport and a cheque for the Royal College. Unfortunately I decided to send it through this service rather than ordinary post because the closing date of receiving application was on the 26th of march 2010 so i trusted this service due to its good reputation locally and internationally.

I adressed the college in order to check weather I was accepted to attend the summer sitting they answered the following

Dear Doctor,

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately we have not received your application for the Summer sitting. Did you send this via special post or courier service, if so you could try tracking it?

It is the candidate’s responsibility to check before the deadline, as to whether their application has been received. As per the guidance notes, we acknowledge the receipt of all applications by email, on the day they arrive at the office.

The deadline for the next sitting (Autumn), is on Friday 2 July. Please inform us if you wish to enter this exam instead, and if so, we can amend your application form when it arrives here at the office.

Kind regards,

The Examinations Team

The examination office told me it's my responsiblity to check before the closing date and I trusted my courier service. And now i tried informing the service here in Saudi Arabia on the 11th of April and they told me that the shipment reached London on the 23rd of March. I e-mailed the DHL UK they replied me the following.

DHL would like to assist you with your enquiry but cannot accept any direct request made by an enquirer outside The UK. This is how to obtain assistance in accordance with DHL’s terms :

Contact the Customer Services department of DHL in your own country and request they start a ‘trace request; enquiry to DHL UK for you. You can locate the contact details for DHL in your own country here :

Please note that if you have already done this, but been advised to contact DHL UK directly, this is completely wrong and you have been clearly misadvised. Whereas we apologise for this, DHL UK is not responsible for the training standards of DHL in other countries. You need to ensure that you contact DHL in your own country, then ask to speak to a supervisor or manager in order to correct this problem.

Once DHL in your own country has opened a ‘trace request; for you, their agents will handle all contact with DHL UK for you, and keep you advised of the outcome.

Please note that although we understand that your circumstances may be frustrating, attempting to contact DHL UK directly in this manner will only lead to further delays. We need you to contact DHL in your own country and make sure that they are handling the case on your behalf so that we can resolve the issue more effectively for you.

We request you not to cause delays to your enquiry by replying back to these emails. We cannot assist you unless we hear from DHL in your own country, on your behalf.

Accordingly I waited to see what your reaction will be but till now nothing was done.
I am working in a foreign country, therefore it is not easy to arrange my annual vacation with regards to my exam, and I was allowed to take my vacation on june, that date corresponded with the exam date that I missed. Regardless the vacation and the fact that I have started studying and preparing for the exam, I booked a hotel and an air ticket and cancelling both will cost me, besides my UK visa will expire on August 2010, so it will cost me more money, effort and time to apply for a new one.

Additionally, I tried to stop the cheque from the bank but they told me it is not possible to take my money back before 6 months. And in 6 month I will be in my home country so I wont be able to take my money back, besides I can not afford now to pay for the next sitting as it cost a lot of money and I have lost a lot of money lately. So again I am about to lose another opportunity to attend my exam. This exam represents my future and it is very important to me.

The college has held me the responsibility of losing the opportunity to apply for the exam before the deadline. And I hold you the full responsibility concerning this disaster I am enduring lately. DHL Saudi Arabia is in fact a branch of DHL global, and as DHL UK is not responsible for the training standards of DHL in other countries I guess that DHL global is.

Finally, I hope, after more than a month, that your honorable service can reach DHL UK enquiring about my shipment that one of your employers has simply declared to me " it's lost " as if it is a normal thing to lose a shipment in DHL. Please find my shipment and deliver it to its destination as soon as possible and do not make me lose applying for the next sitting as well.

I have sent your office many times with no respond. I hope you would respond this time or else I will have to make an official complaint and a legal action.

Comments

The following was sent by me today regarding my 'lost' shipment 7417337270:

Thank you Mr. Maha for your e-mail.

But how could you actually think that I would ever be comfortable using DHL in Saudi Arabia again? This is the first time I have had an item lost via DHL, but this is not the first time that I have had unique items ‘lost’ in Saudi Arabia. Because of the horrendous and unreliable shipment through other companies/entities, I chose DHL because I felt that the organization had the integrity to deliver my shipment. Now it seems that I cannot trust anyone in Saudi Arabia, not even DHL, to get my packages to me.

I have sent a GPS from Riyad to South Africa on Oct 4th, I have clearly stated to the agent that it is a damaged unit and need to go for repairs in South Africa, on which he should've known and advised on repair & return services. Charges was SR464
But instead it was sent as a regular parcel, ended up at customs in South Africa and I now have to pay ZAR826 VAT (taxes) to release the unit. The agent even told me to open my nicely protectie wrapping so that he can inspect the unit.
No one have contacted me to inform me of the problem and delay, after numerous calls and email's, and extremely rude agents such as Amad, I eventually got through to John who was really helpful and explanatory.
I now have to pay the taxes to get the unit released, to have it send back will take around an estimated month I am told due to KSA customs regulations etc, and I am not guaranteed a refund on my shipment charges, never the less the inconvenience I have experienced and still don't have my unit even reached the repair centre. In the mean time due to the delay I had to purchase a new unit, and now DHL informs me (after several emails sent to them enquiring, ) that I did not follow procedures and sent it by the wrong mail, surely I did, I should've never used DHL, it is DHL's agent who is not trained, how can this me my problem. I will not leave this matter here, I will go as public as I can and I WILL go to court on this, it has become a matter of principle now.

It is the most unprofessional company I have ever dealt with, and I send and receive at least 6 parcels a week internationally.

DHL Saudi and specefically in Madinah very worst. The office very small, and parcel everywhere in the office even on the couch. It very terrible when it take half hour for one person to claim the postage. It never sent to your door and you must take by yourself at the small office. Only one worker and the worker look not friendly. It maybe because the customer too many and the office just small and full with parcel. DHL must consider about this, i went twice to claim my parcel and i just back home with empty hand. Too many people and too long to settle one customer's postage. This is bullshit.